Senior Regional Counsel, APAC & Japan

Zendesk is seeking a skilled and business-savvy Regional Counsel to join our team and provide hands-on legal support across the ANZ and Asia region. This role offers the opportunity to work on a broad range of commercial legal matters, including SaaS contract negotiation, data privacy, compliance, and dispute resolution. As part of our global Commercial Legal team, you’ll report to the Director of Legal, APAC, and collaborate closely with stakeholders across the region to support our business growth and negotiate with key strategic APAC customers. This is an excellent opportunity for an eager, experienced and forward-thinking professional to take on a strategic role that invites you to shape how we operate in the ANZ and Asia regions while still being part of an established, globally connected team. This is a hybrid position based in Melbourne’s CBD.

As a key strategic business partner, responsibilities will include:

• Establishing a strong partnership with the ANZ and Asia leadership teams to proactively support and protect the business in proactive and creative ways.

• Collaborating with key functions (including Sales, Revenue Operations, Professional Services, Product, etc.) to align legal strategies with business objectives.

• Providing practical, business-focused legal guidance, including general commercial matters and disputes, compliance and risk management, product, privacy, and employment. 

• Monitoring legal developments across the region and partnering with our Legal and Compliance teams to identify and implement local requirements.

• Negotiating revenue-generating and non-revenue-generating agreements.

• Contributing to strategic global legal initiatives and projects for the success of the business and our Legal team.

• Developing and delivering legal training on key regional topics and internal legal tools.

• Enhancing consistency and efficiency within the Legal Team by sharing expertise,  proactively identifying legal and regulatory developments, and helping to shape and improve best practices with colleagues and the business.

• Building and maintaining relationships with external counsel and instructing them on the matters they handle for Zendesk.

• Some travel outside of Melbourne may occasionally be required.

Qualifications:

• Qualified to practise law in-house in Victoria. Additional qualifications from other jurisdictions (e.g., New Zealand or a jurisdiction in Asia) welcomed but not essential.

• Full, unrestricted working rights in Australia.

• 4+ years experience, preferably in an in-house and/or law firm environment (preference for both).

• Expertise drafting, redlining, and negotiating a wide variety of commercial agreements, especially those in the digital environment (e.g., SaaS, cloud computing), including Subscription and Reseller Agreements, Services Agreements, and Data Processing Agreements.

• Some experience managing and advising on commercial disputes prior to the formal litigation stage, including bankruptcies and insolvencies.

• Strong understanding of privacy and data protection laws, and other relevant regional regulations and standards.

• Good working knowledge of local corporate, compliance and employment laws is preferred but not essential.

• Full fluency in English, both written and verbal; additional language proficiency relevant to the Asia region is a plus.

• Strong communication and analytical skills.

• Ability to provide clear, concise, and actionable guidance on complicated legal questions to non-lawyer stakeholders.

• Strong track record of performance in demanding, high-paced environments.

• High degree of commercial business judgment and tech savvy, and an ability to complete projects quickly, independently, and with minimal supervision (though you’ll always have the support you need!).

• Strong organisational, project management, and execution skills with a collaborative and flexible approach when partnering with others.

• Curiosity in what you do and an adaptability to change.

• Hobbies and interests that make you happy and that you can continue to enjoy when you aren’t working!

#LI-ML12

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your specific accommodation request.